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COPYRIGHT DEPOSfT. 



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Ctytcjs of t^e 'BoD^ 



E 



THICS OF 
THE BODY 



BY GEORGE DANA 
v BOARDMAN 

Mens sana in corpore sano 




PHILADELPHIA & LONDON 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

I 90 3 



^O 






Copyright, 1903, by 
George Dana Boardman 

Published March, 1903 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

MAR 27 1903 

Copyright Entry 
CLASS CL, XXc. No. 

^ lo / s I 

COPY B. 






Electrotyped and Printed 

By J. B. Lippincott Company 

Philadelphia, U. S. A. 



€o m 



toljo I0119: to make tljeir 
foofcp * life tributary to 
t^eir 6pirit4tfe, tins 
toolttme U fceUicatefc 



qbntamv 0ott 



prefatory IRote 



"Why do you (I hear the 
reader asking) entitle your book 
' Ethics of the Body ?' Is not the 
body simply an organized mass 
of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, 
nitrogen ; as the chemists say, 
'CHON?' Do these elements 
have any moral qualities ? How- 
much virtue is there in carbon ? 
How much religion in hydrogen ? 
How much morality in oxygen ? 
How much ethics in nitrogen ? 
Why, then, do you talk of the 
'Ethics of the Body?'" 



prefatory THote 



This little book is an answer 
to your question. And in an- 
swering it, let me frankly state 
that I do not speak from the sole 
view-point of the Christian, or 
from the sole view-point of the 
scientist. But I speak from the 
common view-point of the scien- 
tific Christian. For I do not be- 
lieve that science and religion are 
antithetic ; I believe they are com- 
plemental, science being the nat- 
ural side of religion, religion be- 
ing the spiritual side of science. 
I do not believe in two Gods, — 
the God of Nature and the God 
of Scripture. I am a monotheist. 



prefatory Hlote 



I am content to move in the com- 
pany of such scientific Christians 
as Nicholas Copernicus, Isaac 
Newton, Michael Faraday. 

G. D. B. 

Philadelphia, February i, 1903. 



11 



Contents 



Prefatory Note 

I. — Importance of the Body 

II. — Care of the Body .... 

III. — Sacredness of the Body 

IV.— Sacrileges of the Body. 

V. — Purifications of the Body 

VI. — Environment of the Body 

VII. — Heredity of the Body . . 

VIII. — Blood of the Body .... 

IX. — Christ's Care for the Body 

X. — Summary 



PAGE 

9 
17 
33 
47 
53 
75 
83 
93 
109 

135 
149 



Appendix. . . . .* > . . 153 



13 



3!mpottance of t^e l3o&r 



I 
Importance of tbe Bo&? 

Idealize as much as we please, 
all spirits, even the most ethereal, 
live, and while they continue in 
this world must live in the body 
and by means of the body. To 
be bodiless is to be lifeless. Let 
me go into particulars : 

i . The Body is Man s Embodi- 
ment. — And, first, the body is 
man's embodiment. How natu- 
rally we express this idea under 
such figures as a vesture, a tene- 
ment, a tent, etc. How pathetic 
17 



Etbics of tbe :©ot>£ 

the request of Henry Alford, 
late Dean of Canterbury, that 
his tomb should bear the simple 
inscription : 

DEVERSORIUM VIATORIS HIERO- 
SOLYMAN PROFISCENTIS 

(Inn of a traveller on his way to Jeru- 
salem. ) 

Indeed, every Christian may 
sing- 
Here, in the body pent, 

Absent from thee I roam ; 
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent 
A day's march nearer home. 

James Montgomery. 

The question is sometimes 
raised whether the dead are self- 

iS 



Importance of tbe Bob? 

conscious. It is possible that the 
phenomena of " Mind-reading," 
or " Though t-transferrence," or 
" Telepathy," may yet shed light 
on this curious and fascinating 
problem ; but of this there is yet 
no evidence. However this may 
be, one thing is certain, we are 
living in a world where we must 
live in bodies or die. 

2. The Body is Man s Avenue. 
— Again, the body is man's av- 
enue. Our bodily senses and 
organs, — our faculties of seeing, 
hearing, smelling, tasting, touch- 
ing, handling, etc., — these are the 

inlets of sense and outlets of 
19 



jgtbics of tbe Bot>£ 

force ; thus making society pos- 
sible. Bunyan, in his history of 
the Holy War, is as philosophical 
as poetical when he represents 
Satan as laying siege to Ear-gate 
and Eye-gate. It is literally true 
that a man without senses is a 
man without sense, actual or 
possible. Nor is there in this 
anything necessarily degrading. 
Matter is not in itself evil. That 
is a pagan notion bequeathed to 
us from an immemorial antiquity ; 
perhaps a relic of the old Zo- 
roastrian doctrine of Dualism 
which the Manicheans injected 

into Christianity, or rather on 
20 



Importance of tbe Bob£ 

which they imposed a few Chris- 
tian elements. But we are not 
pagans ; if we were, we might 
join in the famous thanksgiving 
of the Egyptian Plotinus that he 
was not "tied to an immortal 
body," and, like him, refuse to 
have our portraits taken, on the 
ground that the human body is a 
thing too contemptible to have 
its image perpetuated. 

3. The Body is Man s Instru- 
ment. — Again, the body is man's 
instrument of action. How is it 
that man is gaining supremacy 
over Nature ; changing its face, 

reclaiming its deserts, subsidizing 
21 



Etbics of tbe Bot>$ 

its mechanical powers, utilizing its 
very elements ? It is not only 
because man has a will ; it is also 
because man has a body which 
is capable of executing that will. 
The body is the instrument of 
industry, art, war, inventions, 
progress, society, civilization. 
The body is man's executive. 

Let me illustrate from the 
human hand. See how many 
different things it can do. For 
example : The hand can, — 

Aid a child, 

Beat a drum, 

Carve a goose, 

Draw a tooth, 

22 



Importance of tbe Bob? 

Etch a scene, 
Fly a kite, 
Grasp a hand, 
Hold a pen, 
Ink a plate, 
Jot a note, 
Kill a gnat, 
Light a fire, 
Milk a cow, 
* Nip a bud, 

Oil a wheel, 
Pull a rope, 
Quilt a spread, 
Ring a bell, 
Swing a scythe, 
Turn a key, 

Use a hoe, 

23 



Etbics of tbe Bot>$ 

Vote a grab, 

Wind a clock ; 
as for X, Y, Z, they are unknown 
potentialities, and therefore I de- 
cline to commit myself in regard 
to them. 

Observe, also, such metaphor- 
ical expressions as these: "A 
cool hand, a heavy hand, a high 
hand, a light hand, a slack hand, 
all hands, idle hands, hand to 
hand, at first hand, from hand to , 
hand, from hand to mouth, on the 
one hand, on the other hand, 
hand and glove, hand in glove, 
hand over fist, hand over head, 

off his hands, on his hands, have 
24 



Importance of tbe Bo2>\> 

a hand in, have in hand, get the 
upper hand, lend a hand, show 
your hands, try your hand, bird 
in hand, fold one's hands, hold in 
hand, in the hands of, no hand 
in, take in hand, hands off, hand 
over, hand-book, handicap, handi- 
craft, handiwork, handy," etc. 
Did you ever think of the origin 
of the phrase, "all hands struck"? 
It originated in the days when 
Labor protested against Capital 
by resorting to fists instead of 
Unions. 

In fact, every human machine 
is a modified copy of some part 

of the human hand. The hand 
25 



Etbics of tbe BoMp 

is a combination of the six me- 
chanical powers, — the lever, the 
wedge, the wheel and axle, the 
pulley, the screw, the inclined 
plane. As the body is the instru- 
ment of the man, so the hand is 
the instrument of the body. All 
honor be to our manual (that is, 
hand-training) schools. The rich 
need them not less than the poor. 
The "Body" in Literature. — 
Such are some of the facts which 
give to the human body its tre- 
mendous importance. Indeed, 
the " body" has added new words 
and phrases to our very language, 

giving — so to speak — its own 
26 



Umportance of tbe Bot>£ 

color to literature itself. For ex- 
ample, we often use the word 
''body" as a synonym for the 
word " person;" as when we 
use such words as these, — "any- 
body," "everybody," "some- 
body," " nobody." 

• ' Gin a body meet a body 
Comin' thro' the rye, 
Gin a body kiss a body, 
Need a body cry ?' ' 

So also we speak of the " cleri- 
cal body," " the legislative body," 
"the body politic," "the body of 
laws," "mystical body of the 
church," "body of mankind," 

"the stellar bodies," "body-plan 
27 



j£tbic6 of tbe Bot>£ 

of a ship," etc. Shakespeare 
makes the "body" serve even as 
a verb. 

As imagination bodies forth 
The forms of things unknown, the poet's 

pen 
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy- 
nothing 
A local habitation and a name. 
— A Midsummer Nig M s Dream, V. i. 

Or, to illu strate from the Latin 
word for "body," namely, the 
word " corpus," note such ex- 
pressions as these, — "Esprit de 
corps ;" " Corporation" (that is, 
a company organized under 

law) ; " Corporate society" (that 

28 



Importance of tbe Boi>$ 

is, mankind conceived under 
figure of a universal corpus) ; etc. 
To incorporate an institution or 
a company is to embody it. 
Thus the word "body" gives its 
own tone to human language. 

Justly, then, have I given to this 
little book the title, Ethics of the 
Body. For the use of the body, 
as we shall see, is the supreme 
test of character. 



29 



Cat* of t^e 'Boot 



II 
Care of tbe :©ob£ 



Since the body is so supremely 
important, we ought to take su- 
preme care of it. Nor is it 
needful that I go into many mi- 
nute details, for public hygiene 
has become one of the chief con- 
siderations of modern society. 

i . Knowledge of Physiology. — 
First of all, we must understand 
physiology. Not physiology as 
a medical science, but physiology 
as a practical matter. Even 

3 33 



jEtbics of tbe Bo&u 

professional physiologists are 
sometimes practical quacks. 

2. Pure Air. — Again, we must 
take care that the air we breathe 
is pure and abundant. If any- 
body needs this advice, it is the 
sexton of a church. Because 
the air seems to him cool, he 
too often takes it for granted 
that it is pure and that the church 
needs no ventilation, whereas it 
may be teeming with dioxide of 
carbon. 

3. Abundant Light. — Again, 
we must take care that our homes 
are as sunny as possible, for 
light is one of the essential con- 

34 



Care of tbe Bofc£ 



ditions of all life, — vegetal, ani- 
mal, human. There is a better 
curative than allopathy, homoe- 
opathy, hydropathy, aeropathy ; 
it is heliopathy, or light of the 
sun. Physicians understand this, 
and therefore seek for their pa- 
tients the sunny side of hospitals. 
And so they unconsciously con- 
firm the prophet's saying : 

To you that fear my name shall the 
sun of righteousness arise with healing 
in his wings. — Malachi, 4 : 2. 



4. Wholesome Food. — Again, 
we must take care that our food 
is wholesome as well as tooth- 

35 



j£tbiC6 of tbe JBot>$ 

some. May I say a word in 
defence of vegetarianism ? Did 
you never think that while the' 
domesticated or useful animals — 
the cow, the ox, the horse — are 
vegetarian, the wild and destruc- 
tive animals — the tiger, the wolf, 
the hyena — are carnivorous or 
flesh-eating? Is it not possible 
that even Christians may learn a 
lesson from "heathen" Pythago- 
ras and "pagan" Buddha? In 
brief, might it not be as becom- 
ing for Christians of the twentieth 
century as for Christians of the 
first to abstain from blood and 

things strangled as well as from 

36 



Care of tbe J5ot>u 



things sacrificed to idols and from 
fornication ? 

5. Personal Cleanliness. — Again, 
we must take care that our per- 
sonal habits are cleanly. Accord- 
ing to Francis Bacon, " Clean- 
ness of body was ever deemed to 
proceed from a due reverence to 
God ;" and everybody is familiar 
with John Wesley's pithy saying, 
" Cleanliness is indeed next to 
godliness." On the other hand, 
John Keble, of Oxford, was wont 
to say to his students, " Always 
associate the idea of sin with the 
idea of dirt." Not that dirt is in 
itself dirty : " Dirt is only matter 

37 



Etbics of tbe Bofc\> 

in a wrong place." But how 
often matter is in the wrong 
place ! Look at many of our 
streets. See to it that our alleys 
and public resorts are clean. 

6. Useful Work. — Again, we 
must take care to be engaged in 
useful work. Nothing is more 
hurtful than idleness. Laziness 
is as unwholesome as it is un- 
seemly. Work is the law of life 
and health. " We charged you," 
says the tent-maker of Corinth, 
"If any one is not willing to 
work, neither let him eat." And 
a ereater than Paul has said, 

"The workman is worthy of his 
38 



Care of tbe Bob? 



wages." Employment for all is 
a more generous bounty to the 
suffering poor than a thousand 
soup-breakfasts or a thousand 
asylums. 

7. Regular Rest. — Again, we 
must take care to have regular 
rests. Man's body is so con- 
stituted that it must have its pe- 
riods of repose. Here is the im- 
mense advantage of brief vaca- 
tions, short excursions, frequent 
amusements, Sundays, etc. The 
Sabbath, surveyed as a compen- 
sation reservoir, is as much a 
constituent part of our bodily 

economy as are the nutritive 
39 



jetbica of tbe BoMe 

organs, or the alternation of day 
and night. Sunday is the de- 
tent or ratchet in the wheel of 
life, by regular interpositions of 
which life's machinery is pre- 
vented from turning back, and 
so failing. 

8. Precautionary Prophylac- 
tics. — Again, we must take care 
to provide against accidents, epi- 
demics, pollutions, etc. Society 
is beginning at last to practise 
what it long ago crystallized into 
a proverb, " An ounce of pre- 
vention is worth a pound of 
cure." The failure to provide the 

ounce is sometimes to become 
40 



Care of tbe Bob? 



guilty of murder. An ancient 
statute reads thus : 

When thou buildest a new house, 
thou shalt make a battlement for thy 
roof, that thou bring not blood upon 
thine house. — Deuteronomy, 22 : 8. 

Were we to translate this an- 
cient statute from the sphere of 
Oriental architecture and custom 
into the sphere of our modern 
American life, the statute would 
read thus : 

1 ' Whenever you build a structure, or 

manage a corporation, or engage in any 

kind of transaction that affects others, 

provide beforehand against the possi- 

41 



Etblcs of tbe Boos 

bility of injuring the life or health of 
any human being ; otherwise you may 
become guilty of murder." 

It is one of the cheering signs 
of our times that the public is 
awaking to the sense of its grave 
responsibility in this direction ; 
for example, demanding that life 
shall not be imperilled by the fail- 
ure to provide substantial struc- 
tures, fire-escapes, life-preservers, 
railway precautions, sanitary ar- 
rangements of fresh air and 
wholesome food and pure water 
and clean streets, isolated refuges 
for sufferers from contagious dis- 
eases, competent physicians and 
42 



Care of tbe Bofcs 



druggists and nurses, sufficient 
hours for rest on the part of 
operatives, excursions for chil- 
dren, sanitariums and parks and 
recreation grounds ; in brief, hy- 
gienic regulations in general. 
Remember the good old Latin 
saying,— 

"Mens sana in corpore sano." 



43 



^acretwessg of t^e 13odi? 



Ill 
Sacrebnees of tbe 3Bob\> 

i . The Body is Man 's Shrine. — 
The body is not only important, 
the body is also sacred. 

It is our body-nature which is 
God's true minster. How signifi- 
cant the answer of Jesus on the 
occasion of his cleansing the 
temple. The Jews said to him, — 

What sign dost thou show to us, 
seeing that thou doest these things? 
Jesus answered, Destroy this temple, 
and in three days I will raise it up. 
The Jews therefore said, Forty and 
47 



Ethics of the Bo&$ 

six years was this temple in building, 
and wilt thou raise it up in three days ? 
But he was speaking about the temple 
of his body. When therefore he was 
risen from the dead, his disciples re- 
membered that he said this. — John, 
2 : 18-22. 

Indeed, so sacred is the human 
body that I am almost ready to 
say that the mystic Novalis hardly 
exaggerates when he declares : 

There is but one temple in the world, 
and that is the body of man. Nothing 
is holier than this form. Bending before 
man is a reverence done to this revela- 
tion in the flesh. We touch heaven 
when we lay our hand upon a human 

body. — Friedrich Novalis. 
48 



Sacrebness of tbe Bob? 

2. The Body is Mans Al- 
moner. — Again, the body is man's 
almoner. Let me illustrate from 
the human hand. I can use my 
hand in one of two ways, either 
egotistically or altruistically. 

On the one hand, I can use my 
hand egotistically, — that is, for my 
own advantage ; as when, for ex- 
ample, I indulge in a bodily 
gratification, or display a costly 
jewel, or strike my enemy. 

On the other hand, I can use 
my hand altruistically, — that is, 
for the advantage of others ; as 
when, for example, I feed the 
hungry, or clothe the naked, or 

4 49 



Etbics of tbe Bobu 

lift up the prostrate. The hand 
is man's natural almoner. 

3. The Body is Man s Test. — 
Once more, the body is man's 
test. Listen to the apostle Paul : 

We must all be manifested before the 
judgment-seat of Christ : that each one 
may receive the things done through 
the body, according to the things which 
he practised, whether good or bad. — 
2 Corinthians 5 : 10. 

It is the use of the body 
which is the standard of final 
judgment. 



50 



^acrtlegeg of t^e !3oot 



IV 

Sacrileges of tbe Bo5^ 

Alas, sacred as man's body 
is, how often we desecrate it ! 
For example : How often does 
the eye, instead of gazing on the 
glories of the landscape, gloat 
over sensuous sketches by dis- 
solute artists ! How often does 
the ear, instead of listening to 
exquisite melodies, listen to the 
song of the ribald ! How often 
does the tongue, instead of prais- 
ing God, blaspheme his name ! 

How often does the hand, instead 
53 



Etbics of tbe 3BoJ>£ 

of feeding the hungry and cloth- 
ing the naked, wield the slan- 
derer's pen, or the assassin's 
dagger ! How often does the 
foot, instead of walking to the 
house of God with the multitude 
who keep holy day, stealthily 
visit the haunts where virtue is 
an outlaw ! How true it is that 
misuse of the body is desecration 
of it ! Let me go into details. 
For example : 

i . Sacrilege of Murder. — First, 
there . is the sacrilege of murder. 
For murder is in the intensest 
sense sacrilegious. Murder is 
not only a crime against man ; it 

54 




Sacrileges of tbe Bob? 

is also a crime against God, in 
whose image man is made. 
Think not that this expression — 
" made in God's image" — de- 
scribes only the *good ; it also 
describes the bad. Wherever 
there is a human being, however 
wicked, there is an image of 
God ; terribly defaced, indeed, 
but not altogether effaced, in 
spite of all its abrasion and cor- 
rosion, still bearing God's image 
and superscription. 

There are various forms of mur- 
der ; for instance, deliberate mur- 
der ; sudden homicide ; suicide ; 

infanticide; keeping saloons; sel- 
55 



Etbics of tbe Bo&£ 

ling- poisonous drugs ; managing 
houses of infamy ; reckless auto- 
mobiling ; thoughtlessness ; etc. 

But murder may be of vary- 
ing degrees of atrocity. For 
example : 

There is the murder which is 
born of malice, or murder in 
the common meaning of the 
term. 

Again, there is the murder 
which is born of sudden passion ; 
the murder, for instance, of lynch 
law ; the murder of sudden ven- 
geance, as when an outraged 
husband encounters and slays 

the destroyer of his home ; the 

56 



Sacrileges of tbe Bot>£ 

murder of manslaughter, whether 
voluntary or involuntary, whether 
provoked by insult, by menace, 
or by alcohol. 

Again, there is the murder 
which is born of despair. Let 
me speak gently ; for it is doubt- 
less true that suicide is always 
a consequence of some form of 
insanity, permanent or tempo- 
rary. Nevertheless, let us not 
be too sentimental here ; for 
even what is called ''insanity" 
is oftentimes a species of mania 
for which the victim himself is to 
blame. Even heathen Aristotle 

declared : 

57 



lEtbics of tbe Boo? 

To die in order to avoid the pains 
of poverty, or anything else that is 
disagreeable, is not the part of a brave 
man, but a coward ; for it is cowardice 
to shun the trials of life, not undergoing 
death because it is honorable, but to 
avoid evil.— Aristotle 1 s Ethics. 

Justly the law pronounces a 
suicide a felo de se, — that is, one 
who makes a felon of himself, 
suicide being felonious self- 
murder. 

Again, there is the murder 
which is born of harmful occu- 
pations. First in this list I 
would put the dram shop ; it 

matters not that the killing is 

58 



Sacrileges of tbe Bob\> 

slow, the killing is moral murder ; 
and before every saloon I would 
post a placard bearing the 
Sinaitic prohibition, "Thou shalt 
not kill." Again, there is the 
sale of narcotics, stimulants, 
patent medicines, drugs in their 
various forms from opium to 
chloral drops. Again, there are 
the slow murders which are per- 
petrated in houses of nameless 
sin — murders which are particu- 
larly sacrilegious, because the 
body, as we have seen, is the 
temple of the Holy Spirit. 
But the most elaborate form 

of murder is war. What justi- 

59 



Etbics of tbe Bo^ 

fies us in denouncing a private 
duel as murderous and praising 
a public battle as glorious ? Evi- 
dently the " Christian" nations 
have yet to learn a great deal 
from the Master of Ethics. 

2. Sacrilege of Lust. — Again, 
there is the sacrilege of lust. 
Listen to the true Lawgiver, — 

Ye have heard that it was said, 
Thou shalt not commit adultery. But 
I say to you, that every one who looks 
on a woman to lust after her has 
already committed adultery with her in 
his heart. — Matthew, 5 : 27, 28. 

Thus does the Lord of all 

vision, in the sublime austere- 
60 



Sacrileges of tbe Bot>£ 

ness of an infinite chastity, step 
behind all legislation and overt 
act, and, planting himself amid 
the secrets of the inner life, 
lay his scorching finger on the 
primal elemental germ of all im- 
pure feeling. 

Here I stay my words con- 
cerning this point. Our King's 
exposition of the seventh com- 
mandment is so divinely simple 
that wayfaring men, yea, fools, 
need not err therein. 

3 . Sacrilege of Intemperance. — 
Again, there is the sacrilege of in- 
temperance. Listen to the Wise 
Man's portrayal of the drunkard : 

61 



etbics of tbc 36o^ 

Who has woe ? 

Who has sorrow? 

Who has contentions ? 

Who has complaining ? 

Who has wounds without cause ? 

Who has redness of eyes ? 

They that tarry long at the wine : 

They that go to seek out mixed wine. 

Look not thou upon the wine when 
it is red ; 

When it gives its colour in the cup ; 

When it goes down smoothly : 

At the last it bites like a serpent, 

And stings like an adder. 

Thine eyes shall behold strange things, 

And thine heart shall utter froward 
things. 

Yea. thou shalt be as he that lies 

down in the midst of the sea, 
62 



Sacrileges of tbe ffiofc? 

Or as he that lies upon the top of a 
mast. 

They have stricken me (thou wilt 
say), and I was not hurt ; 

They have beaten me, and I felt it not : 

When shall I awake ? I will seek it 

yet again. 

— Proverbs, 23 : 29-35. 

It is a startling- picture of a 
drunken man. 

See how intemperance profanes 
man's body-nature, opening- the 
way for diseases, rags, gutter, 
brutishness. 

See how intemperance profanes 
man's society-nature, involving 
loss of reputation, esteem, confi- 
dence, good will. 
63 



Etbics of tbe ffiofcs 

See how intemperance pro- 
fanes man's mind-nature, in- 
volving loss of talent, memory, 
reason, judgment, coherence, 
skill, caution, shrewdness, reso- 
luteness. 

See how intemperance profanes 
man's heart-nature, involving loss 
of delicacy, conscience, truthful- 
ness, aspiration, manliness, reli- 
gion. 

Thus intemperance undermines 
health ; hastens insanity ; arrests 
industry ; alienates partners ; 
wrecks character ; debauches pol- 
itics ; encourages anarchy; nurses 

all passions of anger, insult, brawl, 

6 4 



Sacrileges of tbe BoJ>£ 

lust, blasphemy, orgies, murder, 
suicide. 

Look about you ; see the sad 
fate of artists, poets, physicians, 
lawyers, clergymen, statesmen, 
merchants, workmen, youths, 
women. The wine-cup is the 
starting point of the infernal de- 
scent. The saloon is the bottom- 
less pit of society. Its king is 
named Abaddon, Apollyon, De- 
stroyer. Is the day ever coming 
when Michael shall dethrone him, 
cast him into the abyss, and seal 
the pit ? 

This leads me to say some- 
thing practical, for mere denun- 

5 6 5 



Ethics of tbe Bofc$ 

ciation is worthless. Let me 
appeal to the patriotic citizen. 
Make the saloon disgraceful, im- 
possible. Help the magistrates. 
Substitute pleasant guilds for 
showy " speak-easies." Beware 
of " treating." Do not be de- 
ceived by the " loving-cup." See 
that reeling sot ; did he not begin 
with a first glass ? 

4. Sacrilege of a Bad Tongue. 
— There is another abuse of the 
body so frequent and vicious that 
it deserves special comment ; it 
is the sacrilege of a bad tongue. 
Let James the Just portray it 
for us : 

66 



Sacrileges of tbe Bob? 

Behold, how great a forest is kindled 
by how small a fire ! And the tongue 
is a fire ; that world of iniquity among 
our members is the tongue which defiles 
the whole body, and sets on fire the 
course of life, and is set on fire by hell. 
For every nature of wild beasts and 
birds, of creeping things and things in 
the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed, 
by human nature. But the tongue no 
man can tame ; a restless evil, full of 
deadly poison. — James, 3 : 5-8. 

What untold anguish the 

tongue has brought into the 

world ; for example, the tongue 

of the tale-bearer, taking up a 

reproach against his neighbor, 

and giving it wings ; the tongue 
67 



Etbtc0 of tbe Boo£ 

of the insinuator, murdering- an 
illustrious renown ; the tongue 
of the gossiper, carrying into a 
household tears and death. I 
hardly marvel that when the 
Nazarene touched the tongue 
of the deaf stammerer of De- 
capolis, and loosed its bond, he 
sighed. 

5. Sacrilege of Bodily Ex- 
cesses. — Again, there is the sac- 
rilege of bodily excesses : for ex- 
ample, over-eating, over-working, 
over - caring, over - worshipping, 
over-resting, etc. Even a habit 
so sanitary as gymnastic exercise 
may be pushed to such an ex- 

68 



Sacrileges of tbe Bob? 

treme as to be suicidal, and 
therefore sacrilegious ; recall the 
premature death of Wilkie Col- 
lins' s Geoffrey Delamyn. 

Instead of particularizing fur- 
ther, let Horace Bushnell, in his 
own vigorous way, sum up for 
us : 

The false conjunction made by intem- 
perate drink, deluging the tissues of the 
body with its liquid poisons and reduc- 
ing the body to a loathsome wreck, is 
not peculiar to that vice. The condi- 
tion of sin is a condition of general in- 
temperance. It takes away the power 
of self-government, loosens the pas- 
sions, makes even the natural appetite 

for food an instigator of excess. In- 
69 



Etbics of tbe Boos 

deed, how many of the sufferings and 
infirmities, even of persons called virtu- 
ous, are known by all intelligent physi- 
cians to be only the groaning of the 
body under loads habitually imposed 
by the untempered and really diseased 
voracity of their appetites ! And if we 
could trace all the secret causes of dis- 
ease, how faithfully would the fevers, 
the rheumatisms, the neuralgic and 
hypochondriacal torments, or the grim- 
looking woes of dyspepsia, be seen to 
follow the unregulated license of this 
kind of sin ! Nor is anything better 
understood than that whatever vice of 
the mind — wounded pride, unregulated 
ambition, hatred, covetousness, fear, 
inordinate care, whatever throws the 
mind out of rest, throws the body out 
70 



Sacrileges of tbe Bot>£ 

of rest also. Thus it is that sin, in all 
its forms, becomes a power of bodily 
disturbance, shattering the nerves, in- 
flaming the tissues, distempering the 
secretions, bringing on a general fer- 
ment of disease. — Bushnell, "Nature 
and the Supernatural," chapter vi. 

In brief, let Friedrich von 
Logau prescribe for us the best 
regimen, — 

Joy, and Temperance, and Repose, 
Slam the door on the doctor's nose. 
— Sinngedichte. 

Meaning of "Profane!' — Well, 

then, may the abuses of the body 

be called " sacrilegious." Why 

was Esau styled "profane"? 
71 



jetbice of tbe Bot>$ 

There is no evidence that he 
was addicted to swearing. " Pro- 
fane" is a compound Latin word, 
meaning "before the temple"; 
that is, outside of the temple, non- 
religious. Esau sold his sacred 
birthright for a pottage of len- 
tils, and so committed sacrilege : 

Lest there be any profane person, as 
Esau, who for a single meal sold his 
birthright. — Hebrews, 12 : 16. 

Beware, then, of selling the 
sacred for the common ; the 
future for the present ; soul for 
sense ; duty for license ; aim for 
drift. Beware of committing 



sacrilege. 



7^ 



pwificatfottjs of ityz isoOt 



V 

purifications of tbe Bob? 

Bodily Purification a Human 
Instinct. — Purification of the body 
is a human instinct. It is based 
on the instinctive belief that an 
act of sin, or a state of sinful- 
ness, needs purification of body. 
Hence the purificatory customs 
of Greece, the quinquennial lus- 
trations of Rome, the sacred ab- 
lutions of the Egyptians, Jews, 
Scandinavians, Aztecs, Hindus, 
Moslems, Christians, etc. Re- 
call how Pontius Pilate tried to 
75 



JEtbice of tbe Bob£ 

satisfy his conscience by wash- 
ing his hands before the multi- 
tude, saying, "I am innocent of 
the blood of this righteous man ; 
see ye to it." In like manner, 
that famous order of chivalry, 
called " Knights of the Most 
Honorable Order of the Bath," 
was so styled because the candi- 
dates were bathed the night be- 
fore receiving their investiture. 
One of the fundamental distinc- 
tions of the Levitical ritual was 
its distinction between " clean 
and unclean." Recall its many 
washings ; its laver ; its water of 

separation ; especially its treat- 
76 



purifications of tbe Bo&$ 

ment of leprosy, as meaning spe- 
cial defilement, needing special 
purification. 

Sin the Trtie Defilement. — Re- 
call especially our King's teach- 
ing, that it is not bodily unclean- 
ness, but sin itself, which is the 
true defilement. Replying to 
the charge of the Pharisees that 
he and his disciples ate their 
bread with defiled (that is, un- 
washed) hands, he said, — 

There is nothing from without the 
man that going into him can defile 
him ; but the things that proceed out 
of the man are those that defile the 
man. . . . For from within, out of the 
77 



j£tbic0 of tbe ffioos 

heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, 
fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 
covetousnesses, wickednesses, deceit, 
wantonness, an evil eye, blasphemy, 
pride, folly : all these evil things pro- 
ceed from within, and defile the man. — 
Mark, 7 : 18-23. 

John the Baptizcr. — Ablution 
being a natural symbol of moral 
cleansing, our Kind's forerunner 
adopted it as his personal sym- 
bol, putting it forward as one of 
the characteristic features of his 
desert ministry ; so that his habit 
of baptizing gave him his own 
specific title, John the Baptizer. 

But John put into the old ablu- 

78 



purifications of tbe 3SBo&$ 

tion a new meaning. It was as 
though he had said, — 

• ' I indeed baptize you in water. But 
my baptism is no mere ceremonial 
cleansing, like the Pharisaic baptism of 
cups and pots and brazen vessels. My 
baptism is the ablution of repentance, 
that is, amendment of character. ' ' 

And years afterwards, when 
Saul of Tarsus was converted, 
the devout Ananias said to him, — 

Why tarriest thou? Arise, and be 
baptized, and wash away thy sins, call- 
ing on his name. — Acts, 22 : 16. 



79 



(Environment of t^e !3ot)t 



VI 

Environment of tbe Bob£ 

" Man the Creature of Cir- 
cumstances." — It is a common 
saying that "man is the creat- 
ure of circumstances." That is 
to say, man is the product of 
conditions outside of himself — 
external conditions of chronol- 
ogy, geography, climate, nation- 
ality, ancestry, tendencies, gov- 
ernment, education, opportuni- 
ties, misfortunes, companions, 
etc. This is what is meant by 

the phrase " environment of the 
83 



letbice of tbe Bofc? 

body." It is the sum total of a 
man's surroundings, — past, pres- 
ent, future. 

Importance of Environment. — 
Thus explained, the practical im- 
portance of environment can 
hardly be exaggerated. It helps 
to save ; or to damn ; or, more 
likely still, to yield a mixed char- 
acter. No wonder, then, that 
biologists make so much of " en- 
vironment." 

"Exceptio Probat Regulam" 
— Of course, there are excep- 
tions. But the very fact that 
there are exceptions proves the 

existence of a rule. It is here 
8 4 



Environment of tbe Moby 

as it is in law, Exceptio probat 
regulam. 

Man the Creator of Circum- 
stances. — But man is not only the 
creature of circumstances ; man 
can, if he choose, become the cre- 
ator of circumstances. Herein 
lies the possible greatness of the 
most unfortunate. How nobly 
the late laureate unfolds the 
career of an obscure but heroic 
villager : 

Dost thou look back on what hath 
been, 
As some divinely gifted man, 
Whose life in low estate began 
And on a simple village green ; 
85 



lEtbics of tbe Bot>£ 

Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, 
And grasps the skirts of happy 

chance, 
And breasts the blows of circum- 
stance, 
And grapples with his evil star ; 

Who makes by force his merit known 
And lives to clutch the golden keys, 
To mould a mighty state's decrees, 

And shape the whisper of the throne ; 

And moving up from high to higher, 
Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope 
The pillar of a people's hope, 

The centre of a world's desire. 

— In Memoriam, lxiv. 

And even suppose that the 
wrestler with environment fails 

86 



Environment of tbe Bot>\> 

in his struggles, enough for him 
that he tried to do his best. 

Wh'o does the best his circumstance 

allows 
Does well, acts nobly ; angels could no 

more. 
— Young' s Night Thoughts ; ii. 

Let us not, then, exaggerate 
the importance of environment. 
It is tremendously important, but 
it is not everything. There is, 
as we shall see, such a thing as 
heredity. 

Our topic is rich in lessons. 
Let me mention some of them, 
more in way of suggestion than 

of tuition. 

87 



Etbics of tbe Bob? 

Foster the Ameliorative Spirit. — 
And, first, let us cultivate in our- 
selves, and try to cultivate in 
others, the spirit of endeavoring 
to better human conditions. To 
this end, let us, for example, 
study physiology, that we may 
know how to apply its truths to 
questions of locality, air, light, 
food, clothing, home, employ- 
ment, vacations, Sundays, ath- 
letics, amusements, companion- 
ships, prophylactics, etc. 

Judge Sympathetically. — Again, 
let not the fortunate judge the 
unfortunate harshly. Let us all 
exercise the altruistic imagination 

88 



Environment of tbe Bo^ 

before we condemn the victims 
of misfortune, ignorance, hered- 
ity, circumstances. Let us judge 
them as we would like to have 
them judge us were they the 
fortunate ones and we the unfor- 
tunate. 

Key to the Past. — Again, envi- 
ronment is the key to the past. 
History is generally sad, because 
the vast majority of mankind 
have suffered from bad environ- 
ment. Here is the secret of 
murders, wars, suicides, thefts, 
crimes of all sorts. Man is bad 
because his environment has 

generally been bad. 
8 9 



Etbics of tbe ffiot^ 

Key to the ^Future. — Once 
more, environment is the key to 
the future. As the diffusion of 
knowledge grows, there may 
come a longing for a better en- 
vironment, and so the opening 
of a pathway to physical improve- 
ment, social amelioration, and 
ethical progress. Change an 
outlaw's environs, and you may 
transfigure him into a paragon 
of citizenship. 



90 



hereof t? of tlje l&oty 



VII 

Mereoits of tbe 3Booie 

' ' Man is an omnibus, in which 
all his ancestors are seated!' 

It is one of the profound as 
well as quaint sayings of Dr. 
Oliver Wendell Holmes. It may 
well stand as the motto for this 
chapter on Heredity. 

Heredity has two aspects ; a 
good and a bad. 

Bad Aspect of Heredity. — As 
man's environment hitherto has 
generally been bad, we must 
begin with the bad aspect of 

93 



Etbice of tbe Bot>? 

heredity. Of this we have pain- 
ful proof every day. Everybody 
knows that there are hereditary 
diseases ; for instance, scrofula, 
consumption, insanity, and a 
nameless disease far more dread- 
ful. How carefully the medical 
examiners in our life insurance 
companies question the appli- 
cant touching ancestral maladies. 
And as there are hereditary 
diseases, so there are hereditary 
vices ; for example, indolence, 
mendacity, avarice, intemperance, 
crime. Of course, there are 
exceptions, — the difference be- 
tween the character of the father 

94 



IHere&it? of tbe 3Bot>$ 

and the character of the mother 
often complicating the problem. 
For example, the monotheistic 
Hezekiah was the son of the 
polytheistic Ahaz, and the father 
of the still more polytheistic 
Mannasseh. Aaron Burr was 
a son of the devout Dr. Burr, 
President of the College of New 
Jersey, and a grandson of the 
saintly Jonathan Edwards ; nev- 
ertheless he became a miserable 
traitor. In reading the annals 
of the Jewish kings how often 
we meet with the phrase, "He 
walked in the way of his fathers." 
No one familiar with the story 

95 



letbice of tbe Bot>$ 

of Abraham and his kindred can 
fail to be struck by a tendency 
to craft which marked them all, 
— Sarah, Lot, Laban, Rebecca, 
Jacob, Rachel, Abraham himself. 

Greek Tragedy. — Herein, let 
me say in passing, lies at least 
to a large extent the significance 
of Greek tragedy ; the drama is 
tragical, because the son is made 
to suffer on account of his ances- 
tors. 

Atavism. — But there is a par- 
ticular form of heredity which 
deserves special mention, — name- 
ly, atavism. Atavism is a bio- 
logical term, meaning a reversion 
9 6 



IHereMt? of tbe Bot>£ 

to some remote ancestral char- 
acter or type. Thus the sudden 
return of a domesticated animal, 
for instance, a cat or a dog, to the 
wild state is a sample of atavism. 
Recent American Wars. — Our 
American people have just suf- 
fered from a sudden emergence 
of atavism. In the process of 
evolution we had developed into 
a state of general benignity, 
when we were willing to enter- 
tain large ideas of arbitration and 
universal brotherhood. But there 
has been a sudden reversion 
to the animal methods of the 
prehuman era. True, the im- 

7 97 



Etbics of tbe Bo&£ 

pulse to plunge into war with 
Spain was humane, and to that 
extent Christian. But the idea 
that moral wrong can be righted 
by physical force has become in 
this twentieth century of the 
teachings of the Prince of Peace 
inhumane, unchristian, chimerical. 
It is a reversion to the animal 
stage of prehuman life. I am 
an optimist, and believe that the 
day is surely coming when up- 
holders of wars will be rele- 
gated to the museum of archaic 
fossils. 

Objection: "Heredity is Unjust 
and Cruel!' — But I hear an ob- 



JHere&it? of tbe Bob$ 

jection, — "This law of heredity 
is unjust and cruel ; it makes the 
innocent suffer for the guilty ; 
according to this law, the inno- 
cent child of the drunkard inher- 
its a tendency to drunkenness ; 
the innocent child of the criminal 
inherits a tendency to crime ; 
look at the great heathen world, 
which for thousands of years has 
constituted the vast majority of 
mankind ; generation after gen- 
eration they have inherited the 
wretched heirloom entailed on 
them by their pagan ancestors ; 
how, then, will you reconcile the 
awful workings of this law of 

99 

LofC. 



Etbics of tbe l&oty 

heredity with the character of a 
righteous and loving God?" 

It is, indeed, a terribly grave 
question, demanding most 
thoughtful consideration. 

Would you have a God of 
Whim in Ethics? — Now I might 
content myself with answering 
that you do not object to the 
working of this law of heredity 
in other parts of the organic 
world. For example, you do not 
object to it when you undertake 
to improve your stock of straw- 
berries or your breed of cattle. 
Why, then, do you, who, it may 
be, zealously insist on the uni- 



IHerefcity of tbe Bo&? 

versality and stability of law in 
nature, demand that in the case 
of man, God should abruptly de- 
part from his usual methods, and 
work a miraculous exception ? 
Would you have a God of law in 
matter but a God of whim in 
morals ? 

Good Aspect of Heredity. — 
But it is time to turn to the good 
side of heredity. 

Nicodemus and Jesus. — Ponder 
a profound statement of Jesus 
when Nicodemus visited him : 

That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh ; and that which is born of the 
Spirit is spirit. Wonder not that I said 



lEtbics of tbe Boos 

to thee, Ye must be born anew (from 
above). — John, 3 : 6, 7. 

A Parcmo?nasia. — Of course, 
the saying is a paranomasia, or 
rhetorical use of the same word 
in different senses. According to 
the founder of Christianity, there 
is a second or spiritual birth as 
truly as there is a first or fleshly 
birth ; and this second or spiritual 
birth is as truly an instance of 
heredity as is the first or fleshly 
birth. Accordingly, it is possible 
that there may be such a thing 
as hereditary spirituality. It is 
a gross libel alike on the kind- 
ness and the ricrhtness of God 



IHere&it? of tbe :©ot>£ 

to affirm that while there is such 
a thing as hereditary sinfulness 
there cannot be such a thing as 
hereditary righteousness. Is God 
so cruel as to allow the vast 
majority of mankind, past and 
present, to be hereditary "sin- 
ners" ? Is God so wicked as to 
arrange that there shall be no 
such thing as hereditary piety? 
Is God so weak that he must 
yield the story of mankind to the 
fallen archangel ? 

How philosophical as well as 
Christian Paul's confidence in the 
inherited piety of his beloved 

Timothy : 

103 



Etbics of tbe Boos 

Calling to remembrance the un- 
feigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt 
first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy 
mother Eunice ; and I am persuaded 
that it dwells in thee also. — 2 Timo- 
thy, 1 : 5. 

It is pleasant to recall that 
mothers have been the chief fac- 
tors in Christian heredity. Re- 
call the mothers of Timothy, 
Augustine, Chrysostom, Basil the 
Great, the YVesleys, etc. 

The Second Commandment. — 

Heredity ! It is my real hope 

for mankind. For I believe in 

what Horace Bushnell quaintly 

calls ''the out-populating power 
104 



IHere&it? of tbe 3Bot>£ 

of the Christian stock." Recall 
the second commandment. While 
Jehovah visits the penalty of bad 
fathers upon their children to the 
third and fourth generation of 
them that hate him, he visits the 
reward of good fathers upon 
their children to the thousandth 
generation of them that love him. 
Not that these ordinals — third, 
fourth, thousandth — are to be 
taken with arithmetical exacti- 
tude — that would be idolatry of 
the letter. But they are to be 
taken in their moral dimensions 
— this would be recognition of 

the spirit. They set forth the 
105 



Etbics of tbe Bobs 

unspeakable transcendence of 
moral goodness. 

Summary. — Thus environment 
is the progressive factor in the 
story of mankind ; heredity is the 
conservative factor. The two 
factors complement each other. 



106 



TBlOOD of t^e BOD? 



VIII 

Blooo of tbe 3Boo£ 

Part I.— Blood in Nature 

Physiology of the Blood. — The 
blood, in respect to its compo- 
sition, consists of two principal 
parts, — first, a liquid plasma ; 
secondly, floating- in this plasma, 
countless microscopic corpuscles 
or blood-disks, most of which are 
red, and the rest colorless or 
practically white. 

The Red Corpuscles. — Take 

the red corpuscles first. They 

constitute nearly one-half of the 
109 



JEtbics of tbe Bot>£ 

mass of the blood, tingeing it so 
deeply that they give it its red 
color. These red corpuscles are 
tiny biconcave circular disks, 
averaging about one-thirty-four- 
hundredth of an inch in diam- 
eter. Although our knowledge 
of blood-stains is not yet suffi- 
ciently advanced to enable us 
to discriminate in all cases with 
absolute certainty between the 
blood-corpuscles of man and the 
blood-corpuscles of animals, yet 
it is sufficiently advanced to en- 
able the microscopic expert in 
certain cases to pronounce with 
accuracy on the character of 



Bloob of tbe ffiobie 

blood-stains in murder-trials ; 
thus converting these minute 
disks, having a diameter of only 
one-thirty-four-hundredth of an 
inch, into solemn resistless wit- 
nesses, either acquitting or con- 
victing. The melancholy Dane 
was right : 

Murder, though it have no tongue, 

will speak 
With most miraculous organ. 

Hamlet, II. 2. 

Ay, "Blood will tell." 
The office of the red corpus- 
cles is in the main to serve as 
purveyors of food and dischargers 



Etbics of tbe 5So5^ 

of waste. For example, as they 
pass through the lungs they ab- 
sorb the life-giving oxygen, and, 
carrying it to the tissues, they 
exchange it for carbon dioxide. 
No conceivable hydraulic mech- 
anism can compare in wonder- 
fulness with the actual double 
circulation of the blood going on 
with solemn constancy in every 
living body, — "the one pulmo- 
nary, from the right side of the 
heart, by the pulmonary artery 
to the lungs, through their capil- 
laries, and back to the left side 
of the heart by the pulmonary 
veins ; the other systemic, from 

112 



Bloot) of tbe Bot>? 

the left side of the heart, by 
the aorta and the arteries which 
ramify from it, to the capillaries 
throughout the tissues, and from 
thence by the veins to the right 
side of the heart." As the blood 
thus rushes forward and back- 
ward through the vascular sys- 
tem, the red corpuscles at every 
point of their ramifying yet cyclic 
journey drop materials for nour- 
ishment, and seize materials for 
removal. 

The White Corpuscles. — Take 
now the white corpuscles. Al- 
though they are somewhat larger 
than the red, yet they are vastly 



jetbice of tbe 3Bo&$ 

fewer except in case of disease. 
It has long been known, how- 
ever, that when the blood is 
taken from a living body — say a 
drop from a punctured finger — 
these white corpuscles, if kept 
at their normal temperature, pre- 
sent for some minutes remark- 
able life-like phenomena ; for in- 
stance, they protrude and retract 
numerous tiny arms or processes, 
and even migrate from place to 
place, sometimes actually work- 
ing their way slowly through the 
wall of some small vein. Indeed, 
the movements of these white 

corpuscles so much resemble the 
114 



Bloob of tbe Bot>2 

protean contours and motions of 
the microscopic animalcule called 
the Amceba that they have re- 
ceived the name amoeboid move- 
ments. Moreover, it is the grow- 
ing belief of many physiologists 
that when pernicious bacteria or 
disease-breeding microbes gain 
access into the body and begin 
their deadly work, these same 
corpuscles swarm to the field of 
death, and, closing in round the 
invaders, literally devour them. 

The Blood is the Life. — Thus 
the blood is in an eminent sense 
the seat and the organ of life. 

The language of Harvey — at 
"5 



Ethics of tbe Bob? 

least the demonstrator, if not the 
actual discoverer, of the circula- 
tion of the blood — is striking. 
According to him, the blood is 
the 

' ' primogenital and principal part, be- 
cause that in it and from it the fountain 
of motion and pulsation is derived ; 
also because the animal heat or vital 
spirit is first radiated and implanted, 
and the soul takes up her mansion in 
it. The blood is the genital part, the 
fountain of life, primum vzvens, idti- 
mum moriens (the first living, the last 
dying)." 

It is a solemn thing to observe 
the rhythmical systole and dias- 

116 



Bloofc of tbe Bo^ 

tole of the heart ; specially as 
recorded by that delicate instru- 
ment called the sphygmograph. 
The blood is a very river of 
human life, its pulmonary and 
systemic circulations constituting 
an intricate net-work of canals, 
making the body a sort of cor- 
poreal Amsterdam or human 
Venice. Each corpuscle is a 
barge, moving with varying rates 
of speed in different parts of the 
body, toiling through the capil- 
laries at the rate of two inches a 
minute, rushing through, the ar- 
teries at the rate of from twelve 

to twenty feet a second, cease- 
117 



Etbics of tbe Bo&\> 

lessly carrying on the organic 
functions of the body by per- 
petually exchanging freight, de- 
positing at the depot of this and 
that tissue oxygen, and taking 
up dioxide of carbon. What 
money is to society, that blood is 
to the body ; it is the means of 
exchange, or the circulating 
medium. 

The scientific accuracy of the 
assertion, "The life of the flesh 
is in the blood," is strikingly 
shown in such facts as blood- 
letting, strangling, fainting, blood- 
poisoning, and especially trans- 
fusion, — a sometimes beneficent 

118 



Bloot) of tbe Bo&s 

surgical operation, in which blood 
from a strong and healthy per- 
son, or from one of the lower 
animals, is injected into the veins 
of an anaemic patient. The life 
or soul of the flesh is in the 
blood. 

Part II. — Blood in Scripture 

Leviticalism a Scarlet Ritual. — 
Blood is emphatically the char- 
acteristic thing in the levitical 
ritual. Particularly is this true 
of the peculiarly sacred rites of 
the passover lamb, the sin-offer- 
ing, the day of atonement, the 
mercy-seat, — all the significance 

of these elaborate ceremonies 
119 



jEtbtce of tbe Bobi? 

turned on the element of blood. 
The ''old covenant" is in very 
truth a scarlet economy. Recall 
the elaborately dramatic cere- 
mony of the annual day of atone- 
ment or " covering." Behold the 
high priest on the morning of 
that momentous day undergoing 
a special ablution ; see him robing 
himself in spotless linen ; see him 
offering for himself and his family 
a young bullock and a ram ; see 
him leading forward to the en- 
trance of the tabernacle two 
goats for a sin-offering, and a 
ram for a burnt offering ; see him 
casting lots upon the two goats, 



BI00& of tbe Bot>$ 

— the one lot marked "For 
Jehovah" the other marked 
" For Azazel ;" see him offering 
another bullock, taking a censer 
of live coals from the altar, filling 
his hand with incense ; see him 
entering alone the mysterious 
holy of holies ; see him turning 
eastward, and sprinkling the 
blood seven times on and before 
the mercy-seat or golden cover- 
ing of Jehovah's ark of the cove- 
nant. 

For, observe (and the distinc- 
tion is momentous), blood does 
not represent death ; blood rep- 
resents life: "The life of the 



Etbics of tbe ffio&i? 

flesh is in the blood." Here is 
the secret of the levitical prohibi- 
tion to eat blood, — a prohibition 
frequently repeated, — and in Le- 
viticus, 17: 10-14, with solemn 
minuteness of detail. The blood 
being regarded as the symbol 
and home of the personality, to 
eat blood was to be guilty of sac- 
rilegious cannibalism. Here is 
the key to a chivalrous, pathetic 
incident in David's exile-life: 

David was then in the hold (cave of 
Adullam), and the garrison of the Phi- 
listines was then in Beth-lehem. And 
David longed, and said, Oh that one 

would give me water to drink of the 
122 



Blooo of tbe Boo? 

well of Beth-lehem, which is by the 
gate ! And the three mighty men brake 
through the host of the Philistines, and 
drew water out of the well of Beth- 
lehem, that was by the gate, and took 
it, and brought it to David : but he 
would not drink thereof, and poured it 
out unto Jehovah. And he said, Be it 
far from me, O Jehovah, that I should 
do this : shall I drink the blood of the 
men that went in jeopardy of their lives ? 
therefore he would not drink it. — 2 
Samuel, 23 : 14-17. 

Years after Jesus was cruci- 
fied, a controversy arose in the 
church at Antioch respecting the 
subjection of non-Jewish con- 
verts to circumcision and the 
123 



Etbics of tbe Bofc$ 

levitical institutions generally. 
To settle this dispute, a council 
was held in the church at Jerusa- 
lem about a.d. 50. The decision 
of the council, as expressed in 
the encyclical letter they sent 
to the Gentile Christians, was 
phrased thus : 

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, 

and to us, to lay upon you no further 

burden except these necessary things : 

that ye abstain from things offered to 

idols, and from blood, and from things 

strangled, and from fornication ; from 

which if ye keep yourselves, it will be 

well with you. Farewell. — Acts, 15 : 

28, 29. 

124 



Bloofc of tbe l&oty 

Christianity also a Scarlet Re- 
ligion. — And now we are pre- 
pared to ascend from leviticalism 
to Christianity. For the blood 
of Jesus it is which is the real 
antitype of the blood of the levit- 
ical victims. This is the very 
point our King made when he 
instituted the "cup" of his own 
passover-supper. Moses, in his 
prophetic song, had already 
spoken of wine as "the blood of 
the grape." Jesus, in his own 
memorial feast, said, — 

This cup is the new covenant in my 
blood. — Luke, 22 : 20. 
125 



Etbics of tbe Bo&s 

"Cup, covenant, new, my, 
blood," — each word is emphatic. 
But the chief emphasis is on the 
personal pronoun " My." The 
very reason why the blood of the 
cross was the new covenant is 
this : no longer was it the blood 
of animals slain under the old 
covenant ; henceforth it was 
Christ's own blood. 

Chris f s Blood the True "Atone- 
ment" — And the blood of Jesus 
is the antitypal real at-one-ment 
or "covering-" on the same prin- 
ciple which held under the old 
covenant, — the principle of sym- 
bolic, vicarious representation. 
126 



36loo& of tbe Bofc£ 

That is to say, Christ's blood, as 
being the vehicle and represent- 
ative of his own loving person- 
ality, was sympathetically, vica- 
riously shed. And in this way 
he became the " covering" for 
the sins of the world ; bearing 
our sicknesses, carrying our sor- 
rows, being wounded for our 
transgressions, bruised for our 
iniquities, himself bearing away 
our sins in his own body on the 
tree. Herein is the significance 
of the bloody sweat in Geth- 
semane ; trampled and crushed 
in the wine-press of his agony, 

his blood, and so his very life 

127 



Etbics of tbe Bob? 

began to ooze through his pores 
as he poured out his soul unto 
death. 

" Saved by Christ's Bloody — 
And so we are saved by faith in 
Christ's blood. Not by faith in 
Christ's blood as consisting of so 
many pounds of material cor- 
puscles floating in a material 
plasma, — that is a materialistic 
superstition. Not saved by faith 
in Christ's blood as being the ex- 
piatory price of God's appease- 
ment and satisfaction, — that is a 
pagan superstition. But saved 
by faith in Christ's blood as 

being the loving representative 

128 



Bloot) of tbe Bofc? 

of his own outpoured life, and the 
blessed symbol of his love for 
mankind, — this is the evangel of 
Jesus. Practically speaking, we 
are saved when we honestly, 
gratefully, adoringly believe that 
Christ's outpoured blood is 
really the representative and 
symbol of his own life and love. 
Christ within us is the new di- 
vine Heart, immortally throb- 
bing, and, in' its ceaseless pulsa- 
tions, evermore sending the true 
life-blood through every artery 
of our spiritual organism. The 
personal appropriation of Christ's 

character and work is the culmi- 
9 129 



j£tbic0 of tbe Bot>$ 

nating sample of the "transfu- 
sion of blood." As the wan, 
anaemic, dying invalid may some- 
times be saved by the injection 
of blood from a healthier organ- 
ism, so every human being, with- 
out exception, who truly believes 
that Christ's blood represents 
Christ's own loving life, will be 
saved with the everlasting heal- 
ing by the transfusion of the 
blood of the 

Strong Son of God, immortal Love. 
— In Memoriam. 

Summary. — Thus blood is the 

scarlet thread winding through 
130 



ffiloot) of tbe B0&2 

both Bibles, — the Bible of Nature 
and the Bible of Scripture ; blood 
is their red letter illuminant, their 
crimson rubric. 

Blood the Symbol of Love. — 
"But all this," you tell me, " is 
an austere doctrine, a sangui- 
nary theology." And so it is, I 
admit, if the Christian symbolism 
of blood really meant "death." 
But no ; the Christian symbolism 
of blood does not mean death, — 
it means life, life, life. " The life 
(not the death) of the flesh is in 
the blood." True, Christ poured 
out his blood or life unto death ; 
but he died in order that man 
131 



jEtbtca of tbe Bofc$ 

may live. Life — not death — was 
the secret of his advent ; and 
love culminates on the cross. 

Epitome. — This then is the 
conclusion of the whole matter : 
Blood is the biological, scientific 
basis of the Christian doctrine 
of " At-one-ment." " Science" 
inexorably holds us to " ortho- 
doxy" in the pivotal article of 
the Christian religion. 



132 



C&rfet'g Care for t^e TSoty 



IX 

Christ's Care for tbe ffiot>$ 

A Day of Healings. — Go back 
with me in thought nearly two 
millenniums to Capernaum of 
Palestine. It is the Sabbath day. 
Already has the renowned healer 
from Nazareth worshipped in the 
synagogue. Availing himself of 
the freedom of the Jewish ritual, 
he has publicly taught, and ex- 
orcised an unclean spirit from 
one of his fellow-worshippers. 

The news of the exorcism 
135 



jetbice of tbe ffiot>$ 

spreads like wildfire through 
Capernaum. From public syna- 
gogue to private dwelling the 
renowned healer wends his mer- 
ciful way. He enters the house 
of one of his very special friends, 
Simon, son of John, afterwards 
known as Peter the Rock. Sor- 
row is in the household. The 
mother of Simon's wife, suddenly 
seized by one of those malignant 
fevers which are still the terror 
of the Jordan valley, is lying 
hopelessly ill. The gracious Naz- 
arene approaches her bedside ; 
taking her hand, and lifting her 

up, he rebukes the fever; in- 
136 



Cbrtet's Care for tbe Bob£ 

stantly the fever leaves her ; she 
rises and gratefully sets festal 
entertainment for her deliverer. 
A cure so signal as this, wrought 
in the household of one so well 
known as Simon, sends another 
thrill of excitement through Ca- 
pernaum. For Simon's house- 
hold is not the only one which 
is afflicted. In this region, no- 
torious for its aggravated and 
chronic maladies, are many in- 
curable invalids. But it is the 
Sabbath day, and they have not 
learned from the lips of the Lord 
of the Sabbath that the Sabbath 

was made for man, not man for 
137 



Etbics of tbe Bo^ 

the Sabbath, and that it is always 
lawful to do good on the Sabbath 
day. Accordingly, they anxiously 
await sunset, at which hour the 
Jewish Sabbath ends. As the 
sun sets behind the Carmel 
range, all Capernaum begins to 
be astir. From every direction 
friends flock, bringing invalids 
of every type of disorder, — lame, 
blind, deaf, mute, palsied, fevered, 
epileptic, lunatic, demonized, — 
until it seems as though the 
whole town were gathered at 
Simon's door. And the won- 
der-working Nazarene benignly 

glides from one to another of the 

138 



Cbrtet's Care for tbe 3SBoi>? 

vast throng, laying his hands on 
every one, and healing all. And 
this was but a specimen day in 
the life of our King. 

John s Message to Jesus. — 
When the caged eagle of the 
desert, John the Baptizer, shaken 
by the dread damps of his dun- 
geon into doubts concerning the 
Messiahship of Jesus, sent to 
him the anxious query, — 

Art thou the Coming One, or are we 
to look for another ? — Matthew, 1 1 : 3. 

his messengers found Jesus en- 
gaged, as was his wont, in acts 
139 



Etbics of tbe Bot>$ 

of bodily service. Jesus returned 
to John this answer : 

Go and report to John what ye hear 
and see. Blind men receive sight, lame 
walk, lepers are cleansed, deaf hear, 
dead are raised, poor have good tidings 
announced to them. And happy is he 
whoever finds no occasion of stumbling 
in me. — Matthew, n : 4-6. 

It is as though Jesus had 
said, — 

' ' John asks me for a reply in words — 

I give him my reply in works. Go, tell 

John what you see me doing, — healing 

the sick, cleansing lepers, helping the 

helpless, casting out demons. These, 

and such as these, are the credentials 
140 



Cbrisre Care for tbe ffioty 

that I am the promised Messiah. 
Happy the man who is not scandal- 
ized by me, by my mission, by my 
methods. ' ' 

Let not the profound spiritu- 
ality of Christ's kingdom tempt 
us to overlook the fact that, so 
far as his public acts were con- 
cerned, he may be distinctively 
described as the healer of bodies. 

Jesus was no Utopian. He 
knew that man's moral nature, 
practically speaking, is most 
easily reached through his bodily. 
Accordingly, he was wont to ap- 
proach men body-wise. In fact, 

Jesus may be said to have fol- 
141 



lEtbice of tbe Bobs 

lowed the medical profession. 
Out of forty-five especially nar- 
rated " miracles" wrought by 
him, thirty-six were " miracles" 
of restoration from sickness and 
death : to say nothing of the 
vast multitude of his other cures, 
of which we have no specific 
record. Indeed, taking into ac- 
count the difficulties of locomo- 
tion in his age, it may be ques- 
tioned whether the physician ever 
lived who had a larger practice 
than the young healer from Naz- 
areth. 

And this beneficent service of 

physical amelioration still be- 
142 



Cbrters Care for tbe Bot>£ 

longs to the Christian Church of 
to-day. 

Too long has the church been 
spending her brains, her pens, 
her lungs, on technical questions 
of church order, liturgy, historic 
episcopate, relation of baptism 
to communion, etc. But with 
the birth of the scientific spirit, 
— a spirit which busies itself 
with the phenomena and se- 
quences of nature and the uses 
to which the natural forces may 
be applied, — the attention of the 
church began to be directed to 
the physical needs of mankind. 

Even modern materialism, in the 
143 



Etbics of tbe Bo5u 

very fact of making so much of 
environment, is a return to the 
practice of Jesus Christ himself. 
True, we cannot work Christ's 
" miracles," but we can have 
his spirit. We cannot heal in- 
stantaneously, but we can pro- 
vide hospitals for healing slowly ; 
we can provide homes even for 
the incurable. 

And healing is but a sample 
of bodily service. Were the 
founder of Christianity to return 
to earth and live in our land, — 
a land which, in distinction from 
Palestine, is a land of Christian 

civilization, where the slow pro- 
144 



Cbrist's Care for tbe Bob? 

cesses of the scientific method 
have supplanted the swiftness of 
the ancient "miracles," — I doubt 
not that he would say to his 
people to-day, — 

Go ye into all the world ; announce 
the glad tidings to every creature ; 
heal the sick, feed the hungry, clothe 
the naked, found asylums, teach the 
trades, show the natives how to utilize 
God's laws of Nature, seek to unfold 
man in the totality of his being — spirit 
and soul and body. 



i45 



^ummat^ 



X 

Summary 



Man's use of his body deter- 
mines his own destiny. 

When we come to receive our 
final awards the Judge will not 
ask, — 

' ' What was your theory of atoms ? 
What did you think about evolution ? 
What was your doctrine of atone- 
ment?" 

But he will ask, — 

1 ' What did you do with your body ? 

What use did you make of your eyes, 
149 



Etbics of tbe Bo&? 

your hands, your feet ? Did you use 
them for my service and man's, or for 
your own?" 

Recall the King's judgment 
test, — feeding the hungry, cloth- 
ing the naked, welcoming the 



stranger 



Then will the King say to those on 
his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the 
world : for I was hungry, and ye gave 
me to eat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave 
me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye 
took me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; 
I was sick, and ye visited me ; I was in 
prison, and ye came to me. — Matthew, 

25 = 34-36. 

150 



Summary 



Then will he say also to those on the 
left hand, Depart from me, accursed, 
into the eternal fire, prepared for the 
Devil and his angels : for I was hungry, 
and ye did not give me to eat ; I was 
thirsty, and ye did not give me drink ; 
I was a stranger, and ye did not take 
me in ; naked, and ye did not clothe 
me ; sick, and in prison, and ye did not 
visit me. — Matthew, 25 : 41-43. 



151 



Hppenbix 



It is but justice to say that when 
the author projected this book he con- 
ceived of it in two parts, — viz. : 
I. The Body as an Organism. 

II. The Body as a Symbol or Ana- 
logue. 

This second part was nearly com- 
pleted when increasing illness com- 
pelled the author, with much regret, 
to leave his work unfinished. The 
subjoined table of contents contains 
the outline of his thought. 



153 



Ipart Seconfc 

THE BODY AS A SYMBOL OR 
ANALOGUE 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

I. — Definition of Analogue. 
II. — Analogue of the Head. 
III. — Analogue of the Eye. 
IV. — Analogue of the Ear. 
V. — Analogue of the Tongue. 
VI. — Analogue of the Hand, 
VII. — Analogue of the Foot. 
VIII. — Analogue of the Cells. 
IX. — Analogue of Disease. 
X. — Analogue of Healing. 
XI. — Analogue of the Church. 
XII. — Analogue of Mankind. 



154 



MAR 27 1903 



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